Michigan murderer who escaped scheduled for court

IONIA, Mich. — A convicted murderer who escaped from a Michigan prison in February faces a court hearing Wednesday on escape, carjacking and kidnapping charges.

Michael Elliot is being arraigned in Ionia District Court. He’s scheduled to appear at 8:30 a.m. via video conference to save transportation costs.

Elliot was captured Feb. 3 in LaPorte County, Ind., one day after escaping from Ionia Correctional Facility in western Michigan. Authorities say the 40-year-old slipped under gates and made holes in fences to get away before carjacking a woman in Ionia.

The woman escaped in Indiana.

Elliot is serving life without parole for first-degree murder in the shooting of four people during the 1993 robbery of a drug dealer. A co-defendant admits pulling the trigger, and Elliot says he’s innocent.

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